Comparing effectiveness of child-centered play therapy and filial therapy for reducing internalizing problems in children

Abstract Aim and This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy and filial therapy in reducing internalizing problems in children. Methods and Materials: The statistical population of this research were primary school children 7-8 year- old in Isfahan city. In order to select of sample group by using the cluster sampling, at first 3 regions between regions of Isfahan city were selected. Then in each region, 2 schools were selected randomly. Moreover, mothers of all 7-8 year-old children in these schools completed CBCL (Achenbach and Rescorla, 2001).then 30 children who obtained the highest score of internalizing scale of the CBCL were selected as a sample group. Children were randomly assigned to two intervention groups: childcentered play therapy and filial therapy. In child-centered play therapy group, each child participated in 16 sessions play therapy and in filial group, mothers received 10 group session. In two group, mothers completed CBCL twice before the intervention and twice after intervention. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to analyze the data The data revealed significant difference between play therapy and filial therapy in decreasing internalizing problems and anxiety/ depression but filial therapy was not more effective in depression/ with draw. Then, filial therapy can be considered suitable alternative for child-centered play therapy in decreasing internalizing disorder and depression/withdraw